ASPIRE testing….check!  Area & Perimeter Gold Test…..check!   Now let’s get down to some fun stuff!

Students began their 3D Figure Project on Monday, April 24th. Students placed themselves into partner groups and collaborated on what scene they would build, what type of 3D shapes it would require, and how many of them it will take!  We discussed the guidelines for the project, which I have posted below. Please take a moment to review the project guidelines and discuss them with your student! Everyone is so excited about this project and I can’t wait to see their creativity come to life!

3D Figure Project April 2017

This in-class project will run this entire week and the first few days of next week. If you have a student on the Disney Trip with Mr. Andrews, I will have my classroom open at 7:00am Monday (5-1-2017) and Tuesday (5-2-2017) for those students to work on their projects to make up missed class time!

So by now you’ve figured out I bumped the Big Gold Test one day! We will officially take our test on Friday, April 21st!!  I told my kids I just kept getting this “teacher feeling” (they know what I mean!) that we needed one more day on these skills! And I think the one extra day of practice with me in class is going to pay off BIG!!

Remember, the skills being assessed on tomorrow’s test are:

identifying nets and their corresponding 3-D shapes

-determining perimeter of a figure

-calculating the area of a figure (everyone should have their formulas memorized!)

Thursday night’s homework on Total Surface Area

HW for Thursday 4-20-2017

Today’s focus of study was on calculating Total Surface Area of a Net. A net is the “blueprint” for constructing a 3-D figure. A net is laid out on a flat surface and each portion of the net must be calculated in order to find the surface area of the total figure. We worked extensively today in class to ensure everybody understands how to identify the different shapes in a net, how to calculate their individual areas, and then add everything together to find Total Surface Area. These are the examples we worked together in class:

Classwork examples on Total Surface Area 4-18-2017

For homework, students are to work three total surface area problems. The sheet I gave them displays the solid 3-D shape and it’s net. Students are to use the NET to calculate the total surface area. Please see both attachments:

Total Surface Area of Nets HW for 4-18-2017

Notes on homework sheet 4-18-2017

All our hard work will pay off as students are preparing for a BIG GOLD TEST on Thursday, April 20th! Skills that will be assessed are as follows:

-identifying nets and their corresponding 3-D shapes

-determining perimeter of a figure

-calculating the area of a figure (everyone should have their formulas memorized!)

We are looking to a big gold test this Thursday on several skills:

-identifying nets

-determining perimeter of a figure

-calculating the area of a figure

This week we will be reviewing each of these skills in depth to ensure all students have a very concrete understanding of these concepts. Please review your student’s homework and our blogs each evening!

Area worksheet (front & back) HW for 4-17-2017

Our first day of ACT ASPIRE was a success! Everyone was in the correct place at the correct time and testing went off without a hitch!! Our students worked consistently throughout their testing session! What a pleasure it was to see them working so hard!

Our second day of Math ASPIRE testing will be tomorrow, Wednesday, April 12th. My 2nd and 6th period classes (and a few from 7th period) will test in the morning. Please make sure your student gets a good night’s rest and has a good breakfast on Wednesday morning!

No homework! Enjoy your evening!

It’s finally here!  The ACT ASPIRE test will be administered this week in math & ELA classes! Here is a schedule of testing for my math classes:

Tuesday: 5th period & 3rd period  (part of 7th period students)

Wednesday: 2nd period & 6th period  (part of 7th period students)

Our math students have worked incredibly hard over the last few weeks preparing for the ASPIRE and they are thoroughly prepared for this assessment!  Please ensure your students are well rested each evening this week as testing will extend for the next 4 days!

An ACT ASPIRE Review Packet was given to each student on Friday, April 7th, in an effort to help students recall skills from the fall semester and 3rd nine weeks. The Review packet is an in-class assignment and will be taken for a Silver Grade.  Students have been and will be given ample time in class to complete this assignment. Please encourage your student to work diligently during our class time as extended time will not be given for this assignment.

Have a restful evening!

We began working on calculating Total Surface Area of a 3-D figure today! Students first learned that they have to break the figure into a “net” or a blueprint of the shape once it’s cut and laid open on a flat surface. In our discussion, we determined that if we find the area of each shape in the net and then add up all those areas, we could give a total surface area of the figure. Here are some examples we did together in class:

Net of cube showing total surface area

Net of square pyramid showing total surface area

HOMEWORK FOR THURSDAY NIGHT, APRIL 6TH

Total Surface Area square pyramid & cube HW for 4-6-2017

So glad the Camp McDowell kids are back with us in class! If your student was out at Camp McDowell, please have them review the attached notes in order to catch up on the skill they missed – faces, edges & vertices. Once they review the attached notes, Camp McDowell students need to complete Tuesday night’s homework. I have also attached a copy of that homework to this blog post.

Faces Edges Vertices

3-D Shapes Chart HW for 4-4-2017

We are continuing to calculate the area of composite figures during our PowerUps each day. While composite figures may or may not be recognizable, students have learned that they can “break” the figure up into smaller pieces that they DO know how to calculate. Once these smaller pieces are calculated, just add all the pieces back together to get the total area of the figure!

In addition to the above skill, students studied how to determine the faces, edges and vertices of figures today. Here are the notes they took down in class:

FACE – any flat surface

EDGE- formed by two faces of a figure sharing a side

VERTEX (singular) VERTICES (plural) – the point at which three or more edges meet

Homework for students is determining the number of faces, edges or vertices for a variety of 3-D figures.

3-D Shapes Chart HW for 4-4-2017

Our final push to ASPIRE testing is in full swing!

Students learned how to take a composite figure and break it into smaller pieces in order to calculate total area of a shape today in class. Just break the figure into smaller pieces that you know (rectangles, squares, triangles), calculate the area of the smaller pieces, and then add everything back up to find total area!

Additionally, students worked today graphing ordered pairs on the coordinate plane in an effort to determine the distance between two points in the plane. Fairly straightforward and I believe everyone picked up on the skill easily!

No homework on this sunny Monday afternoon! Enjoy!